Halloween

“Sow-Win” was the first form of Halloween created over 2,000 years ago by the ancient Celtic people to celebrate the end of a harvest and the start of a new one.  Halloween was then called All Hallows Eve and was a holiday celebrated by pagans in the middle ages. In the early 1600s, in England, people were very superstitious about cats. As a result, it led to the execution of hundreds of thousands of cats around Europe. Some scientists believe that the Black Death was a result of these executions. The Black Death was the deadliest plague known to man. It killed an estimated 25 Million people (That's one-third of Europe.) 

The Salem Witch Trials were a reality in colonial Massachusetts. The pilgrims tried over 200 people and thirty of which were found guilty, and Nineteen of those were executed by hanging. Halloween was kind of popular in the early 1840s but still wasn’t very popular. Halloween didn’t start to explode in popularity until around the early 1960s. America decided to turn this evil holiday into an experience for children to eat as much candy as they wanted and have fun playing dress-up. 

Over the years people have started to enjoy horror movies and religiously watch them on Halloween for a good Halloween “scare.” Ever since the 1960’s Halloween has dug itself into the culture of America and Indoctrinated the nation into believing that it's okay to be a pagan. I personally do not celebrate Halloween by indulging in the evil things of Halloween like idolatry, but I don’t mind visiting a haunted house or watching a scary movie. 

-Jake Wingfield